Nigel Farage backs Reform UK to win 'a lot of seats' during visit to Winslow pub

A red rose tucked in his lapel, the Reform leader spoke to candidates in the Bell Hotel in Winslow on what would normally be St. George’s Day – the Church of England having pushed it back to Monday.

Addressing a packed room at the traditional coaching inn, Farage said: “Being English is something that’s been frowned upon, looked down upon, sneered at.”

The Reform leader said he was confident of his party’s chances at next week’s elections, which will see 97 councillors elected to Buckinghamshire Council, which currently has 147 members and is controlled by the Conservatives.

To laughs, he said: “This is the Conservatives’ safest county in the entire country. It’s because you’re all rich isn’t it. You all drive a Jaguar. You all drink gin.”

But on a more serious note, Farage claimed the Liberal Democrats were ‘on the rise’ in Bucks, campaigning ‘pretty damn hard’, and would take some Tory votes, such as people who voted for the UK to remain in the EU.

He continued: “And we are going to take a chunk of the Leave Conservatives and a chunk of patriotic old Labour.”

The Reform leader said his party was only a couple of percentage points from ‘pulling off something quite big’ and could win ‘a lot of seats’ in Buckinghamshire.

The candidates also heard from the council’s only Reform councillor Paul Irwin, who says the party could have an impact in Bucks if it wins around six seats.

The member for Stone & Waddesdon, who defected from the Tories earlier this year, said his former party were ‘so scared’ of Reform and that Conservative Bucks Council leader Martin Tett may need to enter a coalition with Reform.

Cllr Irwin said: “If we can just get out, I think we can turn it around. Six places in Bucks. Martin Tett will have to a deal with us.”

Farage then added that his party would only do deals with the Tories if they ‘exacted a heavy price’ and ‘it suits us’.

The Reform leader also told candidates and activists his party supported ‘working people’ who pay taxes and ‘go to blooming work’.

Farage later referenced his 2023 appearance on ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and claimed his party was attracting younger voters in a way his former UKIP party ‘never could’.

He said: “You look at young people, you look at my TikTok, you look at my interaction with young people – going into the jungle didn’t do me any harm – we are connecting with huge numbers of young people.”

Farage also said Britain was ‘spiralling downwards quite quickly’ and said there was a ‘breakdown in values’.

He added: “Shoplifting. Apparently, that’s ok now. Well, it’s not ok with me… The absolute trashing of our Judeo-Christian culture.”

But the Reform leader was quick to stress that his party ‘respects’ other religions.